Former Secretary of State David Whitley — who lost his job after presiding over a botched review of the citizenship of Texans on the voter rolls — is back to working at the governor’s office.

Whitley resigned from the post Monday just before he would have been kicked out of office without a state Senate confirmation vote, but he went straight back to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office where he was rehired on an $205,000 annual salary, according to the state comptroller’s office.

Whitley’s return to the governor’s office was first reported by The Dallas Morning News.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for confirmation on Friday, but a spokesman for the comptroller’s office, which oversees state employees, said Whitley was hired by the governor’s office under the title of “deputy director II.” The Texas Tribune had filed a records request for personnel documents on Thursday.

A longtime aide to the governor, Whitley left that office in mid-December when Abbott appointed him to serve as secretary of state. But his tenure was cut short after Democratic senators blocked his confirmation over a bungled effort to review the voter rolls for noncitizens that instead jeopardized the voting rights of tens of thousands of naturalized citizens.

A federal judge halted that review in late February over concerns that “perfectly legal naturalized Americans” were targeted in ways those born in the country were not.

Whitley’s office eventually agreed to scrap the review to end the three federal lawsuits that were filed against the state. But the debacle left taxpayers on the hook for $450,000 in costs and attorney fees for the lawyers of the naturalized citizens and civil rights groups that alleged the review was unconstitutional and violated federal protections for voters of color.

The settlement did little to assuage Democratic senators who came out against his confirmation as early as February, echoed by dozens of civil rights and advocacy groups and the Texas Democratic Party. The Democrats held their block despite intense efforts by the governor to secure enough votes before time ran out on Whitley’s appointment.

“Let’s get this straight: David Whitley used taxpayer dollars to attack Texans’ right to vote,” Texas Democratic Party executive director Manny Garcia said in a statement Friday.  “Texans and the Texas Legislature said he had no business sitting in the Secretary of State office. He definitely has no business continuing to draw a six-figure salary on the taxpayer dime in the governor’s office.”

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PRINCIPAL, G. DAVID WHITLEY | A CAREER PUBLIC SERVANT AND 5TH GENERATION TEXAN

David Whitley is an attorney and former secretary of state, Border Commerce Coordinator, Border Trade Advisory Committee Chairman, deputy chief of staff and later special advisor to Governor Greg Abbott, and appointments director for the governor. He is a 15-year public servant who is passionate about working collaboratively with stakeholders throughout the State of Texas to resolve complex challenges.

In 2018, Whitley was appointed and served as Texas’ 112th Texas Secretary of State, which is the State’s Chief Election Officer, Chief International Protocol Officer, and the Governor’s chief advisor and liaison to Mexico and the border region. While Secretary of State, he was appointed to serve as Texas’ Border Commerce Coordinator and Chair of the Border Trade Advisory Committee (BTAC), which advises the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to advance infrastructure projects that facilitate cross-border trade between Texas and Mexico. In that role, he convened a meeting of BTAC that included over 30 stakeholders and worked to advance the Texas-Mexico Border Transportation Master Plan to completion. He also visited eight international bridges on the Texas-Mexico border.

Most recently serving as Special Advisor to the Governor in Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office, he oversaw the Office of Economic Development and Tourism, which includes the Texas Enterprise Fund, Events Trust Fund, Governor’s University Research Initiative, Travel Texas, Texas Music Office, Texas Film Commission, Texas Workforce Investment Council, Texas Military Preparedness Commission and the State of Texas Mexico Office. He also served as a key governor’s office liaison for state agencies such as TxDOT, institutions of higher education, the Office of the Attorney General, the Texas Military Department, the Public Utility Commission, the Department of Insurance, the Department of Information Resources, the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Facilities Commission, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, among others.

He began working for then-Attorney General Abbott in 2004, serving in various roles including Assistant Deputy Attorney General. He later served Governor Abbott as Appointments Director, helping place talented Texans to serve as judicial appointees and on the governing boards of state agencies. Later, as Deputy Chief of Staff, he managed 13 divisions in the office and traveled with Governor Abbott on his international trade mission to India, coordinating with CEOs and staffing the Governor in his meeting with Prime Minister Modi. During law school, he worked in the Texas Senate and for a U.S. bankruptcy judge.

Whitley is a member of the State Bar of Texas, earned his finance and law degrees from The University of Texas at Austin, serves in the UT Law Mentorship Program, and is a native of Alice, Texas.

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